The banned Australia batsman made his return to competitive cricket recently in the inaugural Global T20 Canada. That was Smith’s first participation in any competition since he was handed a 12-month suspension from international and domestic cricket by Cricket Australia for his role in the ball-tampering scandal that occurred in Newlands.

Following his stint in Canada, Smith was all set to take a break from cricket once again as he finalized his wedding plans with partner Dani Willis. However, the prospect of time in the middle was enough to persuade the former Australia skipper to change his mind and sign up with the Barbados Tridents.

Smith recently took part in the inaugural Global T20 Canada.

“It was a relatively late change of heart but there weren’t any financial incentives,” CPL chief executive Pete Russell stated.

Sri Lanka Cricket scrap plans to hold T20 league similar to the IPL

Sri Lanka had launched the Lanka Premier League (LPL) in 2012 but the tournament immediately ran into financial woes before being abandoned. Plans were on to revive that league this year with Sri Lanka eyeing an IPL-style league filled with overseas stars.

However, on Thursday, a SLC official confirmed that the plans to hold such a league had been scrapped for now with a tournament featuring local players from Sri Lanka now planned instead.

“There will be no foreign players, but our own international cricketers will play in the four teams that will take part,” the SLC official was quoted as saying by AFP.

“The new league will nurture emerging local talent by giving young players the opportunity to play alongside the island’s best,” the official added.

The Lanka Premier League 2018 was supposed to get underway in August this year but a decision to postpone it indefinitely was taken last month. The governing body had announced that they would wait to take a call on the league until a new board was elected in SLC.

The SLC is currently being managed by an interim management body appointed by Sports Minister Faiszer Musthapha ever since Sri Lanka’s Court of Appeal suspended elections for the board in May this year.